


The Dark and The Cold

by TheDarkRat



Series: DarkRat's Plot Bunny Basket [12]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Bullet Point Fiction, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Fic, Harry is Jack, I Sort of Accidentally Made Snape the Easter Bunny, Man in the Moon is Dumbledor, No Beta, Plot Bunny, Sorta Incomplete, Voldemort is Pitch Black, fusion au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22885570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkRat/pseuds/TheDarkRat
Summary: “What goes together better than the cold and the dark?”
Series: DarkRat's Plot Bunny Basket [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1500458
Kudos: 17





	1. Outline

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GretchenSinister](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/gifts).



> So, this is 2 parts. The first part is the bullet-point outline. It's rough, but it's finished. The second part is the fleshing out of the outline. It's not finished. It might never be. But, I'll reserve the right to continue. If someone feels like they could do the rest of this justice, drop me a line.

Dumbledore was a Prince of the Old Kingdom when Riddle, the best Knight, call sign Pitch, was given the position of guardian over the nightmare door

Prince, he may have been, Dumbledore was given that sector of Stars to govern. 

Riddle asked for assistance - Proud though he was, he knew he’d need help. 

Dumbledore was reluctant at first - Riddle was the best, he’d be able to resist the nightmares. But others? Would they be as strong? 

Eventually, Dumbledore gives in and gives Riddle his Knights, Malfoy, Nott, LeStrange, Black, and Croaker. They were Riddle’s men at arms before this new assignment. They named their unit the Knights of Walpurgis 

All goes well for a while - but then - Riddle hears his daughter, Nagini behind the nightmare door. 

The other knights try to stop him, but Riddle is the best of them - he’s been there for too long. The nightmares know. 

He opens the door. 

Riddle becomes Pitch, the Dark Lord and his knights, his generals astride tarry black night mares. 

They ravage the world - these dark knights. The first strike is called Walpurgisnacht. 

Dumbledore’s royal family was cut down while he was away from the royal city. 

Dumbledore fights a grand battle, it’s huge and he takes out a couple of the generals. But, it’s not enough. He runs away. Fades. Takes up residence on the moon of earth. 

Pitch and his remaining generals have taken the galaxy. 

But one royal navy ship, Godric’s Hollow, is left. It’s captained by Col. James Potter. His wife and young son are aboard. They all know, it’s fight and die now or run and die later. 

They fight. Lily Potter, knowing that they will die, sends her son in a tiny comet ship away. 

With a great explosion, in that later no one knows the exact thing, Pitch is severely weakened, sent flying thru space (eventually landing on earth) his generals are either dead or scattered 

The Godric’s Hollow is lost. All souls aboard are gone. 

Except for little Harry. Who’s in a stasis comet pod

Riddle, the Dark Lord Pitch, has landed on earth. He is severely weakened, the nightmares have eaten his mind, he remembers someone named Nagini being important to him, but he can’t remember why or who - so he has found a snake, corrupted it with nightmare sand, and named it Nagini

Pitch now lives on fear. Riddle is a name forgotten. He becomes the humans’ boogeyman. 

With what little influence Dumbledore still has, living on the moon in exile, he has appointed Guardians, of Memory, of Hope, of Wonder, of Dreams

Fate brings Harry to Earth 

Dumbledore cannot believe that the boy survived 

but the stasis has been damaged somehow - Harry will die if he goes to earth as he is 

So dumbledore does the only thing he can, and it takes much of his remaining power - he moves Harry’s soul to a recently deceased boy in a pond 

The boy was selfless, a protector, a good force - everything he wants Harry to be. 

For, he knows that Fate has Marked Harry and assumes that Fate Mark is defeating Pitch once and for all 

After all, Harry's parents wounded him, it would be poetic justice for harry to strike the killing blow

Harry is merged with Jack Overland

The stasis pod in conjunction with the soul merge has suppressed and erased memories. The boy is raised from the pond, given the lion’s share of Dumbledore's remaining power and will

When the boy wakes up - he does not know anything about either of his pasts, his name, or anything. Only that he knows the moon raised him from the pond. 

Now begins 300 years of neglect from Dumbledore/Moon - as he has no more remaining powers. 

Frost, as he goes by now, cannot be seen by normal people - a precaution built into him from the Moon 

But other supernatural beings can, but they seemingly avoid him - another precaution, Dumbledore wanted to protect Harry 

So, Frost spends the next 300 years alone, with only the wind as a friend, playing with the snow. His shepherd's crook has lightning, zigzag bend to it before the curved end 

Pitch knows of Frost, but does not, cannot know who he is 

Pitch attempts another power play to create fear and drown out all the lights 

Frost hangs on the periphery of this - helping children when and where he can - he’s extremely powerful as a spirit, but he has a neutral stance - most of the supernatural set respects and knows that (Pitch among them) 

The Guardians get the last desperate message from Dumbledore, the man in the moon, he names Frost the last guardian - Dumbledore dies 

The current Guardians are confused - they know of Frost - it’s been 300 years, and they know he’s a neutral spirit - why would the Man in the Moon choose him? Especially now when Pitch is making waves? 

The Guardians, which the exception of Aster, have no idea the history behind MiM or Pitch 

Aster reveals what he knows - which is current up to the last stand of the Godric’s Hollow 

The Guardians wonder is Frost is somehow related to all this

Meanwhile, even Pitch knows you don’t cross Frost or really hurt/hunt children - Frost allows nightmares and fear because fear keeps you alive 

There’s a story in the supernatural community of a vicious redcap named Umbridge who was torturing kids for fun - The blizzard that Frost brought to bear (the blizzard that Bunny moans about) is legendary. (Bunny only cares about how it ruined his holiday, he doesn’t know about Umbridge) the community knows how deadly the cold can be

Pitch goes too far, too drunk on his growing power and goes after the town of Hogwarts - Frost is there. 

This is the first time both of them see each other face to face 

At first, Pitch tries to tempt Frost, what goes better together than the cold and the dark - brings up the Umbridge incident, the neglect and the ignoring that the Man in the Moon (how Pitch knows this, eh.) just made him and then ignored - made it so he was ignored 

Frost has angst, but there are children - they are his self-driven mission 

Frost’s face, a picture of determination, bravery, anger knocks lose a Riddle memory 

Pitch sees Frost’s face and remembers Col Potter - remembers the debilitating pain, remembers the exile he’s suffering now - Pitch and Frost have a huge dust-up 

Frost keeping to the defensive as he doesn’t want to hurt the children nearby 

Pitch’s yelling about Potter and the Godric’s Hollow 

The other Guardians show up finally - they take over fighting Pitch (their weapons not being dangerous elemental powers) and Frost herds the kids back to safety 

The other Guardians heard the nonsense yelling about Potter and Godric’s Hollow - this makes sense to them as Aster told them some history 

The dust-up is over - and the guardians invite Frost to the Workshop for a debrief 

Frost is mostly ambivalent with them, as Pitch was right about them ignoring and avoiding him 

The Guardians explain how MiM had chosen him for the last guardian 

Both Frost and Bunny are against this appointment - Bunny because he still holds a grudge over the blizzard, but also because he doesn’t understand why Dumbledore chose the most neutral spirit ever. Frost because the guardians actively ignored or outright attacked (in bunny’s case) him in the past 

They try to explain what the Guardianship means - Frost already knows. He still refuses. 

He will only ally with them against Pitch, but after that, he works alone. 

Toothania offers his baby teeth for memories, as it’s brought to light that Frost doesn’t remember anything prior to being a spirit 

They go to the tooth palace, here Pitch has made his first official act of war against the guardians 

They lose Sandy - but not before it’s revealed just how powerful Frost is 

Pitch has found and gathered his three remaining generals, Malfoy, Nott, and Lestrange and Frost defeats them all soundly - sending only two back to limp back to their master 

Bunny is even more distrustful - he knows EXACTLY how strong those generals are - he fought against them before 

Frost gives them the idea of how to keep up the belief in Tooth but doesn’t participate 

He keeps watch 

Then they need to make sure Aster’s holiday goes off - But one of the Generals has grabbed one of the small children from Hogwarts and uses it to distract Frost while the other general and the nightmares destroy the warren 

The guardians return just as Frost has returned, he fought and killed the other general, and returned the child home - but he looks beat up and scruffy, fresh from a fight 

Bunny accuses him of leading the Nightmare General to the warren and helping 

Frost gets right up in Bunny’s face “If you believe that, truly believe that, then I cannot dissuade you. But, remember this Bunny, even though nothing goes together better than the Dark and the Cold - I. Am. Still. Here.” 

Frost leaves the Warren, the 3 guardians are reeling at what they just learned - that Pitch tried to court Frost to his side and Frost had said no. 

Bunny then makes the same connection that Pitch did - the face of a righteous Potter - Aster had known the Potters. And the dots connect, why Dumbledore was invested, why Pitch was yelling about Col Potter, why Frost is so powerful 

Pitch attempts to tempt Frost one more time, now that he’s down to only 1 general - he has Frost’s toothbox. Despite that Frost is the reason for Pitch being exiled - Frost files this away but doesn’t ask or rise to the bait

He offers it for Frost to just stand aside 

Frost quotes, “The only thing for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” “You crossed a line, Pitch. You know I don’t interfere, but you went after kids. You know what happens to those that do.” Here there are vignettes of humans and spirits alike who have hurt kids and Frost found out. They’ve died in the cold, lost limbs to frostbite, they’ve been eaten by wild animals. “You asked me once. I gave you an answer. That answer holds.” 

They have another dust-up. Pitch breaks the staff in an advantage which allows him to slip into Frost’s defence and delivers a killing blow

A Babytooth is a witness 

Pitch leaves 

BabyTooth goes back to the other Guardians, retells the whole thing - North is spectacularly impressed - Frost is a warrior like North hasn’t seen for aeons. Tooth is impressed that Frost didn’t give into temptation. Bunny is ashamed for his accusations and even more convinced that Frost is a Potter - the last potter - the last star now has gone out

Meanwhile - Inside Frost’s mind, the long covered but ancient starpeople’s inherent power rears up - and Frost lives. He fixes his staff, now that his full power is unlocked

Frost knows who he is now. Both of them. He knows what Dumbledore did. He figures why he did. But now, he has to stop Pitch. 

There is a pitched battle going on near Hogwarts now - it looks like Pitch and his last General are winning. There is so much fear. The three remaining guardians are fighting the grief caused by the death of Frost. 

Suddenly, a cold wind blows. No one really takes notice. But the temperature drops. The kids hurry inside, watching from windows. The one girl Pitch’s general had kidnapped is the first to notice. “It’s cold,” says one. “Look at the frost on the window,” said another. “Frost?” asks the girl, the others point to the glass, with fractal patterns growing on them. “FROST!” She shouts! She tells all the other kids. They believe her. 

Snow starts falling, the tiny granular kind that says it’s freezing. The ground locks up. The guardians begin to notice. The hail and snow are working in their favour. 

Finally, there is a great blast of icy wind and a yell. 

“Pitch!” It’s Frost, riding the wind, staff fixed, and the man is glowing. He’s a star. He’s the winter. He is ice and rage and burning cold. 

The last general, Nott, flees. 

Pitch is flabbergasted. He killed the boy. He broke the staff. 

Memories and flash - Riddle is pulled to the front - he knows this face, he knows those eyes - They destroyed him last time 

The guardians are aghast - Frost is back from the dead - he’s not what they thought 

Only Bunny really knows what Frost is 

In several very impressive moves, calling up ice and snow, riding the wind and snow drifts, Frost and Pitch fight 

With a final blast, Pitch realizes that Frost has been creating a cage of ice and snow while they’ve been fighting. 

“You have a choice, Riddle,” says Frost, “You give up this campaign, you go back to being the boogeyman and you live.” 

“Never! I am the DARK LORD.”

“So be it.” And the icy cage collapses in on itself, crushing and burying Pitch until there is a muffled explosion of dark light and ice. 

With a gesture, Frost uses the wind to bring the last general to him. “Knight Nott,” Frost addresses him with the proper name and title, a lot of the shadows fall away from the knight. “You also have a choice. The world needs fear to survive. Fear is important. Will you be the boogeyman or will you choose death?” 

“I will happily take the position.” Frost uses his starpeople power to bind Nott in his role and promise 

Frost sends Knight Nott away. 

With another, grander gesture, Frost instructs the winds to bring together all the nightmare sand that’s around. He creates a ball. And sends a bright white light at the ball of darkness from his staff. 

The dark sand begins to slowly turn gold 

And if a few moments, Sandy has reemerged, alive and unharmed 

Sandy recognizes a fellow Star, one of higher rank and bows to Frost 

Frost raises him up. “None of that. I am not he.” 

The other guardians approach, “We thought you were dead!” 

“I was.”

“But…?”

“And then I wasn’t.” 

Frost makes another gesture and the field they’d been fighting on, which had turned into an arctic landscape, melts and returns to its former spring state. 

“Will you be a guardian now?”    
“No.” 

“Why?”    
“Because I am not a Guardian. I was Fate Touched and Dumbledore misread what that meant. I am to protect the balance. He thought balance meant the darkness was to be eradicated.”    
“Balance?”    
“Fear is necessary for survival, Bunny. The darkness and the light are to be equal. Just as there is day and night.”    
“I will continue my impartial stance.”    
“But you could do…”   
“Do what? Knight Nott will not rise up. He cannot. He will be what is needed. Just as I will.” 

After that spring, a new belief rose up among humans. Of an impartial god, cold of manner, but warm of heart. Whose image was carved on merchant’s scales - for balance. 


	2. The Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the beginning of the fleshed-out outline.

It had been a long, hard war. Despite all the death and grief and suffering, the Nightmares had been caged. Caged on an empty, lonely planet. But, every cage needs a keeper. General T. Marvolo Riddle was the best of all them. He was a warrior, a scholar, a mage, a tactician. He was chosen by the Golden Solar Royals to keep the universe safe. One man, strong enough to protect trillions. 

Riddle had a daughter. A bright, lovely little girl. She was named Nagini after the snakes her father loved to speak to. She was growing up without him. The Nightmares bided their time. 

The Golden General asked for aid, for assistance - helpers to lighten the burden. He wanted to see his daughter. Prince Albus, the Royal family’s eyes in this sector of the galaxy was reluctant. General Riddle was the best, how would other, lesser knights fare? In the end, he acquiesced, assigning the General’s old unit, The Knights of Walpurgis, to help guard the cage. 

They were all-powerful and skilled warriors, LeStrange, Black, Nott, Malfoy, and Croaker, close-knit and intelligent. They were welcomed by their General who had been disquieted by the solitude. Solitude, broken only by the whispers of the Nightmares. 

The General left to visit his daughter. She was still a child, but older now than when he had left. She was taller, her hair longer, her smile no longer gap-toothed. His Nagini was beautiful, just like her mother. She basked in her father’s praise and attention. But soon, the General had to return to duty. He could not stay. 

Returning to the lonely planet, the General found his knights frightened by sudden movements, sharp noises, and jumping at shadows. The Nightmares had been whispering to them. General Riddle rallied his men. Moved by his words and courage, they put aside their own fears. Together they guarded the cage. 

But the whispers grew louder. Grew to audible words. Words of fear, at first, made in the voices of the dead. These were easily pushed aside by the General’s fiery bravery - the dead were dead, they could not speak. This was a trick. 

Then the voices of the living started. Wives, children, husbands, old friends - started screaming in pain, in fear. Starting screaming for help. The Knights rallied, valiantly, but one voice became louder than the rest. A voice that should not have been there. A child. A girl. Young and sweet and scared. She called for her father, her papa. 

His Knights could not stop him. They tried and were almost cast asunder for their efforts. The cage door was opened and a girl’s name called out in fear, in hope. No girl stood there. She was not there. Had never been there. The doors were open now. And the Nightmares surged forth into the General. 

The black wave of shadow and sand hit the man as he stood there. One moment he was ready to rescue his daughter, the next, his skin turned inky black, his armour and robes bled colour until they were only shades of grey, his eyes turned the red of blood. His sword, once a blade of justice, melted into a scythe of gleaming metal and black sand - a weapon to kill and cull. 

General Tom Marvolo Riddle was no longer. Here stood Pitch Black, Dark Lord of Nightmares. His fallen knights were next. Black sand and shadow fell upon them like waves upon the shore. The Fallen Knights stood, now Death Eaters - terrors of deep space and star. They all mounted great, hulking stallions of blackness, hooves sharp as steel, dripping fangs showing behind the bits, red eyes gleaming. 

They left the empty, lonely planet. They went where there were people. They fed on fear. They caused chaos. They slaughtered millions. No one could stand to them. No one could escape. Planet after planet after planet fell into shadow, fell to death. The Nightmare King gained power, gained strength. 

They came to General Riddle’s home planet eventually. Not that General Riddle was still inside any longer. But the Nightmares knew. They knew and they unleashed the worst of everything they could. Undead rose from graves, blood-sucking fiends, demons wielding fire and flame. The General’s home was destroyed. Not even a mouse lived after they were done. The Nightmares fed gluttonously. They fed most sweetly on the death of a single little girl. A stuffed snake in her arms, she cried for her Papa. After, only her blood dripping on the walls was the last physical sign she had existed. 

The Golden Age died in a cataclysm of fire and blood. Citizens escaped where they could, but never for long. The Nightmares and Death Eaters were too fast, too ferocious. The Monarchy was torn to shreds. Only one Prince remained, absent from court. He would fall soon. The Dark Lord sent three of his Death Eaters after the Prince. The last of the Royal Stars. 

Prince Albus knew he could not defeat the Dark Lord on his own. But he fought bravely, valiantly. He fought with all the savvy of a chess master - he wounded two Fallen Knights, and killed one, but at great cost to himself. He was weak, injured. He limped to an empty moon of an occupied, primitive planet. He set his ship down and knew he would die here. 

Out in the blackness of space, the last navy vessel sailed. The  _ Godric's Hollow _ was small and sleek. Onboard was the last Solar Navy colonel, Lord James Potter. He had his wife and young son with him. Now, they were the last of a slaughtered race. They were running. They were hiding. 

But the Nightmares feed on fear and they could smell it on the young couple. They followed. The battle was fierce. It was deadly. The young wife did two impossible things - first, she put her son in a small Comet pod and sent him away, coordinates randomly so she could not reveal; second, standing over the body of her dead husband, watching the Dark Lord raced towards her, she finished the sequence for self destruct. The  _ Godric's Hollow _ exploded in a rain of holy, white fire. Willing sacrifice in the face of untenable odds fueling the explosion further. 

The Dark Lord and his Fallen Knights were caught in the blast. Injured and weak they sought shelter. A primitive planet with one lonely moon beckoned. 

  
  


Time moves differently in the void between stars. The Comet containing baby Harry Potter, the sole survivor of the  _ Godric's Hollow _ , arrived at the randomly generated coordinates. A blank expanse of empty space. The Comet's occupant was asleep in the stasis ice, forever unaware of the blackness outside. 

It might have been a few short years for Harry, but it was thousands for Prince Albus and the Dark Lord. Albus watched silently from the moon as the Nightmare King slowly enveloped the earth. What could he do? He was still wounded, crippled and a shell of his former self. He gathered some strength and sent a call. A call to creatures of the Light, willing to fight for the protection of humanity. 

Four beings heard and heeded his call. A young, lowly Celestial. He was bright and clever, this diminutive being. Struck mute by the horrors of war. He was given golden sand to guard the charming Dreams of children. 

A tall, northern warrior, a bandit queen, now elevated from the race occupying the planet to something more than mortal. Tall and straight-backed, black of hair but golden of heart. She was given two blades of star metal to keep safe the Wonder of childhood. 

There was a jewel feathered woman who buzzed with energy and smelled of rich flowers. Her people gone but she kept faith. To her, Prince Albus gave the ability to create Memory boxes. She would collect children's happy memories and protect them from forgetting the good times in the face of fear and sadness. Like a seed long forgotten until the flower bursts open to drink in the sun. 

Lastly, a Pooka, another last survivor - his race ripped apart by Death Eaters and their Nightmares. He was a warrior of cunning and stealth. He was charged with the hardest task, protector of Hope. 

Prince Albus named them Guardians and set them the task to protect Earth's children. He sat back, tired and spent, and hoped it was enough. 

  
  
  


The Comet where Harry slept raced around in the orbit of a small blue star. It was a quiet solar system. Until it wasn’t. 

A meteor, huge and hulking, set in motion millennia before Harry’s people were even travelling between stars, pushed through the small system. It did not hit Harry’s comet. But in the meteor’s wake there trailed dozens of smaller rocks. Each potentially more deadly than the last. One of those smaller rocks hit Harry’s comet. 

In space, there is little to no friction. The universal law of motion applies. This one small rock changed the orbit of Harry’s comet. And Harry was carried out of the small blue system and out into the vastness of space. 

Fate would take his comet to a small, one-mooned, primitive planet with a yellow sun. Inside, Harry rolled over. The stasis was degrading. 

  
  
  


When the comet reaches the outermost limits of the yellow star, an old man living on an empty white moon raises his head. 

Prince Albus is taken over by disbelief. How is it that this little boy, out of the entire civilization, survived? Fate has been kind. Fate has delivered Albus a champion, someone who can defeat the Dark Lord. 

The Old Man of the Moon draws the comet to him. The little ship is damaged. Harry would not have survived much longer on his own. What’s more, the little boy has stars in his blood. His father was an Earl of the Solar Court. Harry has more power than anyone in the galaxy now. The last of the heirloom of the Golden Age. But his body won’t survive on the Earth. 

So Prince Albus looks for a solution. From his makeshift throne of moonrocks, he watches the planet below. He watches a young man, not quite grown, lead his younger sister to a frozen pond intent on play. He watches the ice crack beneath small feet. He watches the young man sacrifice himself for his sister. He watches the icy water claim the young man even while the sister screams. Prince Albus has an idea. 

He gathers himself and his remaining power. He’s a shadow of his former glory but the moon is full, it helps. A frozen body is drawn from a frozen pond. Its soul iced over and unmoving. Prince Albus draws Harry’s soul out of the damaged comet’s degrading stasis and gently fills the frozen body with the new soul. In his haste, in his hubris, in his ailment, Prince Albus does not remove the first soul. 

The frozen body glows bright, like a solar flare of white light. Then eyes fly open and a great gulp of air inflates empty lungs. The last Solar Prince pours his gathered power into the body. The natural shadows of the clearing flee further as the light gets impossibly brighter. 

Gently, the body is set on the frozen pond, the shepherd's crook in its hand. And Prince Albus, now fully drained of what power remained to him, falls into a waking hibernation. Aware but unmoving. Awake but unactionable. 

Below, in the normal light of a natural full moon, a young spirit awakens. His hair is dark black at the roots flowing to ice white at the ends. His eyes are green, but a pale green - like iced over pine trees. And when he looks at his reflection in a sheet of ice, he sees a scar starting just over his right eye and jaggedly cutting across his face to his nose and cheek - it looks like lightning or the cracks of a frozen pond. 

The spirit’s memory is empty. He does not remember a name. He does not remember being human (or a Star). He does not remember anything before his first breath here in the moonlit clearing. But he does know the language of the land. And when a wind, full of excitable curiosity sweeps in from the North, the spirit laughs and gives himself a name. “Frost.” 

  
  
  


Over the next 300 years, Frost lives a solitary life. His only friends are the Winds. Very early, Frost learned that humans could not see him. They walked right through him. And other spirits, though they could see him, never wanted to stick around for more than small talk. 

Devoid of any other mission or occupation, Frost entertained himself with following the winter and creating storms. He learned he loved the sound of children laughing at the cool, pristine sheet of freshly fallen snow. He learned he loved watching the children play and be carefree. Frost created small pockets of snowballs, sent sleds a little faster, made games a bit more fun. 

Occasionally, Frost would see the Guardians. There were four of them, each with a task designed to protect the children of the earth. All of them were politely friendly to each other. Except for E. Aster Bunnymund, a Pooka. Frost avoided him. 

Ever since a late spring, surprise blizzard that ruined an Easter holiday, Aster could not stand Frost. They nearly came to blows several times. What Aster didn’t know was the reason for that blizzard. No one knew. Except for Frost. 

Once upon a time, the forest near the village was a clear field. Once upon a time, that field was the sight for a horrific and bloody battle. There were knights in armour on horseback, archers in with white and red fletched arrows, there were shiny steel swords and black iron axes. When the battle was through, the ground had soaked up all the spilt blood. And from the blood, a Redcap named Umbridge emerged. For years it was satisfied to live beneath the field of war, and feast on the blood that soaked the ground. 

But then the forest grew. And the blood dried up. And the Redcap had gone hunting. 

Frost found the creature feasting on the innocent, fresh blood of a child. 

When his rage cooled and the last winds of the storm blew away, the creature was dead, the forest torn and frozen, the child avenged. 

Frost blamed himself for not protecting the child. He could not explain his failure to Aster. Aster blamed him for mischief and pranks and capriciousness. Frost did not correct him. 

Life as a spirit goes on. The seasons turn, the world changes, but Frost is still there. In the spirit world, he’s gained a reputation for neutrality in all affairs. Except those regarding the safety of children. In those, he will viciously defend them. Everyone knows the cold can kill you. 

During these millennia on earth, the Dark Lord Pitch has lived and recovered much of his old power. He will never again be the towering, unstoppable wave of death and destruction. But he has been the Boogey Man of the human mind since he landed here. 

Human fears are so vibrant and plentiful. He has his remaining Knights, his Death Eaters. The corrupting shadows have bastardized their forms - no longer resemble the beings they used to be. They have long limbs, too long. They have white glistening teeth, too sharp. They have eyes that glow bright poison green or vibrant angry red. Some walk on all fours, their limbs like paws and claws instead of hands. One takes to the air on wings of night and sand. They are his. And they are great and terrible. 

The mortal world has evolved. No longer are the primitive apes who lived in caves by the grace of accidental fire. Their own technology can be turned against them. The Dark Lord knows because he can smell their fears. Fears of Doomsday. Fears of walls. Fears of guns and plumes of smoke and bombs. Fears of other people, different from themselves. The Dark Lord can drink each and every one of these fears. And he knows. Now is the time to strike. 

He will prey upon these fears. He will devour this world. It will give him the strength and power to once again travel through space. He will find other solar systems to conquer, to destroy. 

He sends his fearlings, his Knights, out into the world. He tells them to cause fear. He tells them to snuff out the lights. 

Aster Bunnymund was not having a good day. It was only a few short days before his holiday. Well, the holiday wasn’t his, per se. No. The holiday was simply the most current manifestation of the mortal’s celebration of Hope. 

When the Guardians were first called, they did not have holidays or jobs, other than safe-keeping children. But mortals liked to associate one thing with another. Symbolism they called it. Spring was the renewing of the natural world. The mortals associated Spring with Hope. And thus, Aster had to upkeep a holiday in order to reinforce the mortal’s symbol. 

He hated it. He didn’t know who had first come up with the idea of coloured eggs. But when he found them…For now, he was stuck painting eggs. Oh sure, he could have just dunked them in the paint cans. But that went against every ounce of professionalism he had. If you were going to create something, you aren’t going to be lazy about it. So each and every egg had a personal touch, a swirl of colour just right, an intricate pattern. After all, if you’re going to do something, you had better do it right. 

Aster was not having a good day because he was wondering about the weather. He hated having to wonder about anything. Leaving things to chance was a recipe for disaster. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
